Fate of the 2nd elevated expressway on Dhaka-Ashulia Road hangs in the balance as the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) remains silent despite inviting bidding early last year on the basis of Public Private Partnership (PPP).
Officials said the BBA invited tenders in February 2013 to select firms for design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway Project (DAEEP). Seven firms were qualified in the middle of the same year.
However, sources said since the authority received a letter from a Chinese firm showing interest to construct the 34-kilometre-long elevated expressway on government-to-government basis, work on the expressway remains stalled.
Officials said the BBA sent the letter to the Economic Relations Division to explore the opportunity of getting fund from the Chinese government but received no response in this regard.
Sources said though the Dhaka-Ashulia elevated expressway project was in the pipeline of the Chinese credit, its priority was lost after inclusion of the Karnaphuli Tunnel project following the Prime Minister's visit to China.
"It is still unsettled," said an official preferring not to be named.
The BBA took the decision to construct the elevated expressway with an estimated cost of Tk 101 billion in the case of box girder system and Tk 90.73 billion in the case of I-girder system in 2011 under PPP. It also conducted a pre feasibility study in 2012 proposing the route to be established from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport-Abdullahpur-Ashulia-EPZ-Chandra connecting National Mausoleum at Savar.
The study says that the proposed Dhaka -Ashulia Elevated Expressway is likely to improve road connectivity of the northern part of Dhaka linking important commercial, industrial and business centers in the city.
Though the BBA is yet to decide on which basis the elevated expressway will be constructed, it is found that the project has been listed as one of the potential projects by the PPP Office.
Though the fate of the pre-qualified firms has not also been decided, the PPP Office recommended the BBA to conduct fresh study on the project. It considered the study conducted earlier by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology was not enough to attract private investors.
The PPP Office has been set up under the Prime Minister's Office to provide necessary support to the potential projects under different ministries.
However, another source said the BBA is taking time to decide on the second elevated expressway project as the first elevated expressway project - Dhaka Elevated Expressway - could not be started even after three years of signing the concessionaire agreement with a Thai company.
A BBA official said as the second elevated expressway will have a link with the first expressway, they are waiting for progress of the first project.
The Dhaka Elevated Expressway project initiated in 2009 was supposed to be completed in 2014. The second elevated expressway is scheduled to be completed in 2015.
smunima@yahoo.com